TransLink unveils first faregate

This man demonstrates the new fare gates. The media, politicians and staff were on hand at the Marine Drive stop of the Canada line at the unveiling of the new fare gates on August 13, 2012. Construction of the $100 million gates will begin immediately and they will be in operation in the fall of 2013.

Photograph by: Stuart Davis
, PNG

TransLink’s $171-million program to install faregates at SkyTrain stations and the SeaBus in Metro Vancouver isn’t expected to reduce policing costs — at least in the short term.

TransLink Chief Operating Officer Doug Kelsey, who helped unveil the first faregate at the Marine Drive station Monday afternoon, said the transportation authority will wait and see what effect the gates have on reducing fare evasion and improving customer safety.

But he noted officers will still likely be needed, especially with the $1.4-billion Evergreen Line set to open in 2016, and many officers will probably be deployed to other areas. Besides fare evasion, he said, officers will be required for fare inspections, safety checks and “getting crime off the system.”

“Just because you put faregates in doesn’t eliminate the need for policing,” Kelsey said. “People will still find ways to compromise the system but there’s a physical barrier now. The gate demonstrate there’s a price for entry.

The faregates, which are 1.3 metres tall with paddle-style turnstiles, are being installed at every station 26 years after the Expo line first opened in 1986. Electronic fare cards, called Compass cards, will allow riders to load monthly passes, single fares or a prepaid balance that will be detected as they pass through the gates.

The move ends a proof-of-payment system for SkyTrain, which depended on the honesty of riders to pay for a pass before they entered the fare-paid zone. Those caught riding without a valid ticket faced a $173 fine, but TransLink was unable to enforce those tickets until the B.C. government introduced legislation earlier this year.

TransLink’s new powers include preventing drivers with unpaid tickets from renewing their driver’s licences or vehicle registration with ICBC.

TransLink will also turn to collection agencies or even the courts to help collect outstanding fines from offenders with no links to ICBC. The new laws will effect Sept. 4 and could be retroactive to 10 years earlier.

Transit police Chief Neil Dubord said some 60,000 violation tickets were issued last year, and similar numbers are expected for 2012. In 2011, TransLink lost $14.5 million in revenue, which is a combination of people not paying or paying only a partial fare and travelling into extra zones.

Of that figure, $7.7 million in fare evasion occurred on rapid transit, with $6.2 million on buses. So far in 2012, TransLink has lost $6 million in revenue.

Dubord noted research from other jurisdictions with faregates shows police are needed to keep the system safe. As well, the vast majority of transit passengers use buses, yet the deployment of officers is “very skinny” except on those routes with high usage.

“We’ll still have the violence, still have the property [crime] and still have people getting through the gates and not paying their fares,” Dubord said. “We certainly are looking at how we deploy our forces.”

Both Metrotown in Burnaby and Main Street stations won’t have faregates when the system starts operating next year because they needmajor renovations. TransLink is also negotiating with the province on how to pay for faregates for the new Evergreen Line.

Kelsey said TransLink is optimistic the system will “pay for itself,” with savings of $7.1 million every year, starting in 2014.

Data will also be collected about travel patterns and volumes when riders swipe their Compass cards, allowing TransLink to make the system more efficient by tweaking schedules and service hours.

The switch to faregates and Compass cards, the province provided $40 million and the federal government contributed $30 million from the Building Canada Fund. TransLink will fund the additional $100 million.

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This man demonstrates the new fare gates. The media, politicians and staff were on hand at the Marine Drive stop of the Canada line at the unveiling of the new fare gates on August 13, 2012. Construction of the $100 million gates will begin immediately and they will be in operation in the fall of 2013.

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